


Ferment

by Netter



Series: Science Night [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Past Child Abuse, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 16:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Netter/pseuds/Netter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark. The cause of-and solution to-all of Maria’s problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ferment

**Author's Note:**

> We've time jumped to Summer 2013. No more sad Maria.

Tony was welding when she walked off the elevator, hunched over something.  Maria thought it might be a sort of gun. They’d all _planned_ to spend last night learning about Asgardian mead fermentation.

“ _You’re_ here to make me go to sleep. Did Pepper call you?” Pepper was likely back in the hospital waiting room where Maria had left her. And a welding torch was _incredibly_ intimidating when pointed directly at you.

 “Is Pepper some kind of amateur? Has she ever pushed the panic button on you under forty-eight hours? Steve called me.” Not that Steve was an amateur either by this point, so if he would bother calling her, she’d show up. “How can I help?”

“Natalie’s nearly dead. She is in the hospital with a tube down her throat. You can’t help.”

“I meant with that.” She waved to the torch. “Scout’s honor, if I wanted you to sleep, that sound you didn’t just hear would have been Clint injecting you with something.”

He snorted and turned back to his work. “No honor among spies.”

“I’m not a spy. I came through the Enforcement sub-division. You know that.” Not that she _couldn’t_ lie when the occasion demanded.

Grunt. “Yes, encyclopedic knowledge of your file. You know where the extra gear is.”

She helped him weld. Watching in his mental process in action still fascinated the part of her that had idolized Tony Stark, so for a little while she put away her morning’s purpose. Allowed them both that rest.

“I joined the Marines straight out of high school.”

He brought a finger to his lips. “We’re working.”

“All I wanted out of life then was freedom.” Her eighteen year-old self hadn’t known another word to describe the hundred things she’d wanted, in any case.

He shut off the torch and flipped up his mask. “So you joined the Marines? Smart, Hill.”

She flipped up hers, too. “I needed money. And four years with salary and a housing stipend and free college at the end sounded like a much better deal than taking out college loans with no guaranteed way to pay it back afterward.”

“So you joined _the_ _Marines_?”

If it were Steve, she might have said that she joined the Marines because the recruiter told her Marines went into scary places with scared civilians and restored peace and order. That she’d joined the Marines because they were always faithful. That it had appealed to her, how intensely they trained their recruits and how much they expected from them.

She might have told Steve that, if they had that sort of relationship, because Steve would understand that kind of thing. But after the awkward, angry _I was married/Sorry it didn’t work out/It did_ debacle earlier in the year, they’d reached the tacit understanding that the two of them needn’t share personal information to Avenge together.

“Who was more badass than the Marines, Stark?”

“Iron Man springs to mind.”

“He wasn’t offering college scholarships, curiously. But the serious point I’m trying to work around to is that I didn’t think the danger would bother me. Number one, let’s be honest—this was before 9/11, and there wasn’t any reason to think I would see prolonged combat.” She’d known she was smart, efficient, and pretty. Her main worry had been that she’d spend four years as some asshole officer’s secretary. And damn if Fury hadn’t pushed _that_ button as hard as he could.

“And number two, you had the same World’s Best Dad we all did. You were used to feeling like you were about to die?” Darcy had bought the team a mug. Whenever anyone told a Bad Dad story, the other Avengers voted on whether or not Stark had to pour a shot of his good whisky. And Tony _kept trying_ to expense the bottles to SHIELD.

“Sensitive, thank you. But it was just me and my father growing up. I had no idea how different it would be, first of all, getting attached to people who were kind to me. Then going with them someplace terrifying. And that’s interesting, isn’t it? Being scared for someone else’s life.”  Especially when they were under your command.

“Yeah, nice story. Get back to work. Granola bars on Darcy’s desk if you’re hungry.” She was. Hospital vending machines being what they were.

Half an hour later, he took her on a tour of the discarded prototypes. “This one, the safety is too far off, see?”

“And you moved it…?”

“Up and to the left, ultimately…This was the first time I deliberately went into battle with people I _loved,_ Maria. How did we end up in this mostly-happy _family_? I’ve never loved more than two people at the same time. And it took over ten years and multiple near-death experiences to even begin getting _that_ right.”

She would never, never admit this out loud, but they way Tony and Pepper talked about each other gave her an incredibly warm, happy feeling. “Rhodey would be touched that he means that much to you.”

He glared. “A virus to the SHIELD mainframe. Any time, Hill…So, how did you learn to deal with it? The fear.”

“Same way you do: I control the things I can control. Mostly that means doing my job well. It also means I invest in reliable people, reliable gear, reliable tech. Anything else will get you killed.”

She could see him mulling that while he sketched up another design in midair. “You ever use any Stark stuff while you were in the Marines? You must have.”

“From my first rifle to the day I crash landed a Starkcopter. Loved it.” The way transplant patients loved their new kidneys. She wondered whatever had become of that nephrologist she’d gone out with in Los Angeles.

“That was a _Starkcopter_? _Really_? Was it the model with the 6Z rotor? Because I thought that was my best one.” He vibrated with pride the way he did sometimes, and Maria laughed. But he needed to know why she was really here.

“Tony. Fury must have assigned me to this tower for a reason. Many reasons. I’m sure he wants me to lean on you to go back into war production for us. Our in-house team is far better than Hammer but not as good as you.” She could see in his eyes, in his body—compartments sealing off, the switches flipping, and power shutting down. “Last night wasn’t your fault, Stark. And it’s not what I’m asking. You’re not a weapons manufacturer. That’s not what you do anymore.”

He looked around the room. “Clearly.”

“That’s not why I told you about myself. On days when you have casualties, it helps to remember the saves. But sooner or later, Fury is going to come knocking, and he will use my story to help do it, so be prepared.”

“You want me to tell him no?” Yes yes yes. She wanted him to say yes. Except she didn’t. Things had changed.

“Natasha’s weapon jammed, and there were too many for you to take out alone. It happened. You stopped making weapons for a reason, Tony. Because you thought that on the whole, the world would be better for it. That you would be better for it. If that was true yesterday morning—nothing’s changed. Fury is not one to let a crisis go to waste, so don’t let him emotionally manipulate you into getting what he wants.”

“How many Natashas are out there, though? _You_ were a Natasha I never even knew about.” Pepper would flay her if he continued this direction.

“No. You know who else likes reliable people? _Stockholders_ like reliable people, Tony, and Pepper has finally sold everyone on the clean energy focus. And if I’m after anything from you, you’re well aware it’s arc reactors.  I am not letting you charge back into the arms race to which you have strong, longstanding moral objections because we had a bad day. I’d be a _bad_ family member if I encouraged that.”

He slumped on the work bench. “What does it say about me that I pour my feelings into weapons the way some people do into ice cream? _That’s_ still my answer to everything.”

“You tinker when you’re upset, it’s cute. Cowboy up, Tony. Natasha is going to be out of the hospital in a day, two tops. She heals almost as fast as Steve.” Seasoned ICU doctors had practically squealed in excitement witnessing her healing rate. The younger ones hadn’t bothered holding back.

“Tinker? Upset? _Cute_?” Signs of life again. “Let’s switch gears, shall we? Let’s talk about those _un_ reliable people.”

No, that wasn’t what she’d meant at all. “NO. No, I was not calling you—”

“Not _meee_.” Oh dear. Now she recognized the tone. “ _Cap_. You think _Captain America_ is unreliable, don’t you? You think he’s a _deserter_. Don’t think he has what it takes to stick it out. Captain America ran off after the big battle and stuck you doing his captain stuff. He left Ranger Hill piloting the Avenger Jaeger solo, didn’t he?”

That kind of thing wasn’t a joke. “Steve is not a deserter. He had no official responsibilities after the Battle of New York and excellent reasons for needing a break. And what on earth is a Yay-grr? That’s a Pacific Rim thing again, isn’t it? Since you brought it up, next time you guys skip off to _London_ for a movie premiere, could you _not_ —”

 “Tony means I left you with a job meant for two people,” came the dull voice at the door. “A job only an incredibly strong person can do alone, and even then only at incredible cost. Pepper’s home. Natasha is doing much better, awake and breathing on her own. Thought you’d want to know.” Then stepped onto the elevator Jarvis opened for him.

Stark had really done it now.

 “Aren’t you going to go after him?”

“Me? Are you serious? You called him a deserter. You called a World War II army captain a _deserter_. Go apologize and pray you don’t get your ass handed to you.”

“No, I said you think he’s a deserter, and you _pretty_ much agreed with me.”

“I did not; I specifically said he was not.” No ears. How did Pepper deal with him?

“And followed it up with… _but if he was, he had a good reason to be_ , and _let’s talk about the other time he deserted_.  Which, totally not his fault. He was misled about _where_ exactly we going to see a movie. That’s on me. Although, you know, the quinjet should have been a hint. But—this is the important part—I’m not the one he wants to sleep with.”

She sputtered. “He does not.” No way was he still interested. More importantly, “Nor would I want him to.  What he and I have right now—finally—is _trust_. When I told him to stand down and let the Enforcement team go after you and Natasha, he read me the riot act, but he followed orders. I am the person who tells him when he is or isn’t allowed to indulge his martyr instincts. Tell me _friendship_ isn’t already pushing it, Tony.”

“The two of you aren’t actually even friends, so…” Only a born CEO—well, majority stockholder, these days—would so casually dismiss a functional, trusting working relationship.

“We’re friendly. And only in a unique construction like the Avengers could we be that. I don’t want more.” And she wasn’t taking romantic advice from a guy who needed a decade to admit he loved _Pepper Potts_.

“Oh, so when it comes to your sex life, we stop being a family and start being a ‘unique construction?’ We’re a _family_. And you guys are kind of like the mom and dad. So…” How did Tony not see that Steve’s issue here wasn’t her?

“You don’t get it. What Steve just heard, I promise you, was that you think he’s a poor excuse for a man.   He watched _you_ save _his_ city from a nuclear bomb. He had to _watch_ while you defended his dying, bleeding teammate, completely outgunned. While he was gone and months after he came back, you were the one who held this team together. I was never doing this job alone, Tony. _That’s_ what Steve’s realizing right now.” How did Tony not get that?

It had been so long since anyone held her, she’d forgotten how wonderful it felt to have someone who’d want to. And to trust someone that much. “Fine. Fine, OK. Stop ranting at me.” Well. If someone had gushed at her like that, she’d deflect, too.

She dropped her voice, “Spare me the monologue, Agent Hill.” Not a chance. Monologues worked. Monologues made him drop the idiotic decoy project.

“Don’t. I haven’t accepted the world needs _one_ Fury.”

“Myths of old told of three Furys. Distant relatives, down in the bowels of Human Resources.”

“Shut. Your mouth.”

“First was Doris Fury in Mission Accounting. She pursued unto madness all those who falsified expense reports...”

“Going, going.”

Tony Stark. The cause of—and solution to—all of life’s problems.

Maria idly wondered what life might have been like for the two of them, if they’d had each other growing up. She in his family or Tony in hers. She wondered if they’d have become better versions of themselves if they’d had a sibling to count on, to protect. Maybe just weaker, but Maria, at least, thrived in good partnerships.

The harder part was dealing with the caring _environment_. Tony was right about the Tower. The atmosphere of support that had developed here was far different from knowing the love of one or two people alone. She worried it was dulling her killer edge, her willingness to do whatever the situation required at the time she most needed it. The changing political situation at SHIELD made her uneasy, and Fury had been holding his cards even more closely than he usually did.

 _Nothing_ mattered to her more than doing her job well. Anything else could get her people killed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I am working on a followup to this one, either as a second chapter or an independent story.
> 
> “To alcohol! The cause of--and solution to--all of life's problems.” is from The Simpsons episode “Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment”
> 
> Pacific Rim premiered on July 4th in London. That’s Steve’s birthday and the USA’s. I like to think Tony offered to take Steve to a movie at a little theater out of the city to avoid any patriotic public relations stunts. And because they didn’t do enough together, just the two of them. Sweet, but maybe he should have mentioned it was a movie premiere on another continent. And maybe he should have picked a different movie—Pacific Rim must be pretty intense if you fight monsters professionally.
> 
> I haven't seen Thor yet, but since I've completely ignored Iron Man 3... the Captain America trailer, though. That, I'm using.


End file.
